


Okay with It

by brightowl, BrightOwl_Old



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-12
Updated: 2016-10-12
Packaged: 2018-08-22 00:22:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8265863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brightowl/pseuds/brightowl, https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrightOwl_Old/pseuds/BrightOwl_Old
Summary: Harry and Ginny contemplate names for their second child.





	

“Oi, Teddy! Don’t let James get too close to the water,” Harry called, watching his two-year-old son toddle aimlessly along the sand, his blue pail bouncing behind him.

Teddy, now eight years old, hopped up from the epic replica of Hogwarts he was constructing and chased after James, who shrieked and giggled, attempting to run away.

Harry relaxed into the linen beach chair, his wife leaning against him, her bum between his legs, her head snuggled into his shoulder. The day was warm but the sun not oppressive, a perfect sea breeze and crashing waves masking the sound of other families and young people enjoying the rest of the beach. Ginny flicked her wand at the sandcastle to keep it from falling while the boys played. Teddy wasn’t overly sensitive, but he’d be resentful if his creation suffered while he was looking after James.

“Three boys,” Ginny said, her tone amused, as she held Harry’s hands against her belly. After months of back-and-forth, vacillating on the merits of a surprise, Ginny had finally convinced Harry to let them find out the baby’s sex.

“You’re the expert here, Miss Six Brothers,” Harry said. “House full of blokes should be just your speed.”

Ginny laughed. “You forget I spent seven years in a girls’ dorm and five on an all-female Quidditch team. Not sure I’m ready to turn our house into the Burrow Part Two.”

They watched as Teddy caught James by his armpits and carried him to sit beside the castle. “Wanna be buried, Jamie?” Teddy asked.

“Yah!” James giggled.

“Sit still,” Teddy said, and began covering James’s toes with fistfuls of sand.

He smiled and nuzzled his lips into Ginny’s hair, crunchy with sea salt. “Thanks for putting up with all of us smelly blokes.”

“Don’t get all sappy on me,” she said.

“Can’t help it,” Harry said. He tried to keep his voice nonchalant as he asked, “Have you thought any more about names?”

“I told you, I think Albus is great name, and I’m fine with you having picked it.”

“You sure? Because I named James. And we decided on Lily for a girl years ago. So if there’s a name you want for a boy, it’s your turn. “

“Harry,” Ginny said, tapping her fingers against Harry’s knuckles, “it means a lot more to you than it does to me. As you so kindly mentioned, I have five older brothers to carry on the Weasley legacy, but you and James and this little one are the Potters. So you get to choose, okay? I really, really don’t mind.”

“What about middle names?” Harry said.

“Hmm… what would go with Albus? Something else Latin?” Ginny mused.

“I had a thought.” Harry swallowed. “I don’t know what you’ll think but.. It’s kind of like James Sirius and Edward Remus… their memories, you know..”

“Hmm?” Ginny said.

“What about Albus Severus?”

Ginny attempted to disguise a laugh as cough. “Severus. As in, Severus Snape?” She failed to keep her judgment and incredulity out of her voice. “You want to name our precious baby boy after the bat of the dungeons?”

“It’s not like that,” Harry groaned. “I mean, if you hate it-“

“I hate it.”

“Okay,” Harry said.

“You’re disappointed.”

“No, no. It was a stupid idea. I mean, Snape, right? He was awful.”

Ginny sighed, and even though Harry couldn’t see her face, he had the distinct impression that she was rolling her eyes. “You’re going to convince me, aren’t you?”

Harry hesitated. “It’s just - he saved me. He saved… all of us. And he sacrificed everything, even after my mum was gone, even when he knew Dumbledore didn’t trust him. He lived his whole life for me, and everyone just remembers all the insults and anger. And I mean, yeah, I’m glad our kids won’t have him for potions, don’t get me wrong, but he was more than that. I don’t want that to be his legacy, you know? He deserves as good as my dad and the others.”

Ginny was silent for a while. Harry waited, listening to the waves crash in rhythm with movement of the baby, a gentle roll beneath his palms. 

“Did you know the Carrows never touched me?” she said quietly. “So many students were basically tortured, and I was sent to detention with Hagrid. And I always wondered, you know, why was I safe then? And after the war, I thought maybe it had to do with you - did he know I was your girlfriend? But I don’t think he knew or would have cared. I think it was because of what happened to me… He knew that I was the only student who had been Voldemort’s victim, who had been under his power. And Snape, he didn’t he want me to suffer like he did. Like you did.”

James had broken free of his sandy tomb and was now attempting to crush the fortress, confused by its magical fortification. Teddy’s laughter washed over them as the towers James toppled immediately righted themselves. Harry realized he was holding Ginny a little tighter, unconsciously trying to protect her from the past, consumed with his gratitude for this life - these lives - she’d given him.

“Albus Severus Potter,” Ginny whispered. “I’m okay with it.”

“Okay with it,” Harry repeated. “I’ll take that for now.”


End file.
